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Temporary or permanent? Considering time, memory and history in public art projects

TEMPORARY OR PERMANENT?
CONSIDERING TIME, MEMORY AND HISTORY IN PUBLIC ART PROJECTS
by
Lauren Kimberly Walser
____________________________________________
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSKI SCHOOL OF FINE ARTS
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF PUBLIC ART STUDIES
May 2010
Copyright 2010 Lauren Kimberly Walser

Monuments, memorials and other historic markers are meant to function as a permanent emblem to a community’s history and collective memory, but what happens when a project engaging with history is meant to be temporary? This thesis attempts to answer that question, first by critically analyzing permanent historic markers like monuments and preservation efforts and then by examining temporarily sited projects. The theories set forth by memory scholars Pierre Nora, Jan Assmann and James E. Young are central to this investigation. This thesis seeks to understand what is gained or lost when history-based projects exist in public for a limited amount of time, ultimately finding that neither permanence nor temporariness is ever absolute. Three case studies facilitate a closer reading of temporary history-based projects: the work produced by REPOhistory, Mark Dion’s “Tate Thames Dig” and Sam Durant’s “Proposal for White and Indian Dead Monument Transpositions, Washington, D.C.”

TEMPORARY OR PERMANENT?
CONSIDERING TIME, MEMORY AND HISTORY IN PUBLIC ART PROJECTS
by
Lauren Kimberly Walser
____________________________________________
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSKI SCHOOL OF FINE ARTS
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF PUBLIC ART STUDIES
May 2010
Copyright 2010 Lauren Kimberly Walser